Product Feature: New York City Wedding Theme

I may live on the West Coast, but I love NY, like almost everyone who has ever been there!

The NYC Wedding product line was the very first city collection hubs and I designed and it remains my most popular. Many of the icons in my collection were drawn from scratch by my hubs so you won't see them anywhere else :)

It starts with my table numbers, you choose the icons from over 30 available icons. You choose from my extensive fonts and color options...

https://www.etsy.com/listing/157386131/nyc-table-number-wedding-decor-single?ref=shop_home_active_1

Then you can add Place Cards.....

https://www.etsy.com/listing/82913892/nyc-place-card-escort-black-handmade?ref=shop_home_active_3

And Menus....

https://www.etsy.com/listing/71645313/new-york-city-menu-cards-skyline-wedding?ref=shop_home_active_4

and even Ceremony Programs....

https://www.etsy.com/listing/161312497/new-york-city-ceremony-program-wedding?ref=shop_home_active_5

Pop on by and check out the other cities I offer :)
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShannaMicheleDesigns

Love in The City

Oh well hello there! You asked for it (ok ya didn't but still) so I am gonna give you a little peek at how one of my handmade invitations gets made. This mess of pics is from an order I have been working on from my Love in the City line for a bride getting married in Battery Park later this year. *sigh* I know...it's totally romantic, isn't it...so anyways, here goes...



Firstly, I handstamp my logo on the back of each invitation. Here I have used paper that is 100% recycled material (20% post-consumer).

The graphics on this particular invitation were all computer illustrated by my husband...he's like, a totally professional web designer and he does my work for freeeee! Well, I gotta make him dinner and do his laundry so it all works out. I take these files to the printer along with stacks of paper and they print these out for me on their super awesome machines that print waaaay better than my $20 desk top printer (go figure).



Then I come home and the magic happens. By magic I, of course, mean paper cuts and sore palms from tearing paper...once it is torn, the edges are inked then they are glued into their proper places....most of the time. Depends on how much coffee I have had and how often the cats jump on the counter and knock the neat piles of paper over or how many times I spin around to see what the kids are doing, knocking the scrap paper box (which all gets recycled of course) across the kitchen.


I may or may not have glued a papers into a card upside down once but the important thing to remember here is I have excellent quality control...always done right after a cup of coffee, in a dry and catless room :)

Pocketsessssssss

Have you ever thought about just how great pockets are? I mean really, really thought about it. They are for sure one of the best inventions ever. You can put money in them, you can put your keys in them....if you have cargo pants you have like 4 extra pockets you can put your phone in there or if you are 10 you can put bugs and rocks in there. Often you forget what is in there...then later you rummage around in your pocket and you're like whoa...I forgot I put a ponytail holder and a nickel in there! If you are a stay-at-home parent like me, you end up with pretty full pockets by the end of the day...I pick stuff up all day and throw it in my pockets. This is why I do not wear cargo shorts. Ok it's only one small reason I don't wear cargo shorts but its a pretty good one.

Here are things with pockets...click the images to be whisked away to etsy where you can buy these fab things!

Let's get shameless self promo out of the way first, K? These are wedding invitations I make that have a little pocket on the front for a "Save The Date" Card or for a little tag with directions etc.


Now here is my very favorite pocketed thing I recently discovered on etsy. It is genius I tell ya! Apiecebydenise on etsy sells this...

This is just super fun. So many aprons on etsy but this one stood out to me. Maybe its because I am a recent vegetarian convert and I'd like to think my salad is just this saucy...snapshop on etsy sells this cutie....


Now for gawds sake....don't forget about your pockets....no one likes finding that ink pen in the washing machine!

Studio Peek

Sooooo....you wanna see behind the curtain do you? You wanna see "where the magic happens"? I dunno...can you handle this much excitement?














Ok....I'll give you a peek into my design....ummmm....let's call it a studio. It's really a table in the guest bedroom in my current temporary house but I pack a lot of creatin' into this little nook.


I took these pictures while I was working on a big custom baby shower invitation order. Look how sad my beads look in their boxes! They must be jealous of all the time I spend with my new friends paper and ink. Wow, this is sounding a little kooky...I blame the sushi high I am on.....mmmm....crunch rolls....







So that was just a little peek into the process....you get to see some of my tools, the table my in-laws let me borrow that is now mysteriously covered in ink, my husbands guitar amp that also serves as a spot to throw a tarp to spray my glitter inks all over the place and if you look close enough, you can see all kinds of little paper bits working their way into the (ink stained) carpet....don't worry...my in-laws told me they want new carpet anyways!

New Line of Custom Baby Shower Invitations

I am having so much fun with my new custom invitation line that I have just launched in my etsy shop!

These invitations combine handmade crafty beauty on the front with fully customizable insert for all your party details. All the papers are torn, distressed and inked in my signature style. I use stamps to create the designs and then I color in the designs with markers, chalk or glitter. I accent them with ribbons, rhinestones and brads.

The inside is a fully custom...I can use pretty much any font (thanks graphic designer husband lol), you tell me what you want it to say or I can help you out with the wording and I even add a hand stamped design as well. I have three options in my Baby Shower line that I will feature here right now and am working on a few new designs for other types of celebrations too, let me know what I can do for your event!




I also have gift tags that match with each of these designs so you can have a totally coordinated event. I can also make menu cards, place cards or name cards :)

Caught With Handmade Goodness Part 2

This installment: adorable owl stuff! I know, I know....you etsians are all thinking noooooooooo! Not owls! Are they wearing cowls? Are they moustacied? Well suck it. My kid loves owls! She'd be pleased as punch to see all owl front pages on etsy so you are lucky she is not an admin :) Anyways, here she is wearing the cutest koo-koo (she calls owls koo-koos lol) hair clip from etsy seller RileyBowtique.



And here she is wearing her adorable handmade owl skirt from etsy seller Creativebee706.



More to come...including more koo-koo cuteness, some kitty cat cuteness and more :)

Caught With Handmade Goodness Part 1

I buy a lot of handmade goodies. I give some as gifts and I keep some all to myself. I thought it would be fun to show those goodies in action (except the soap....unless there is great demand then you can pay $1.99 per viewing after just $19.95 sign-up fee lol).

I buy my girls all kinds of handmade stuff- clothes, hair accessories and most recently these adorable friends from buttercupbloom.etsy.com. She worked with me to come up with just the perfect owl and kitty for my girls (who happen to super adore owls and kitties!). So here they are in action....




....can you tell they love them?! I sure do :)

Autumn is coming, right???!

Feels like autumn will never come to Southern California. It's hot and dry and brown. I am pining a bit for the East Coast fall I left behind. We only had them for a few years but there really is nothing like autumn in a place where the air cools and the leaves change and you can leave your pumpkins out on the porch without fear of mold and collapse. Here are some autumnal etsy items that make me nostalgic for the fall....just click the image to get whisked to the listing!

Handmade Weddings are my Favorite!

I've been thinking about weddings lately...all of my friends and most of my family are married and my kids are too young to even consider thinking about their weddings (let's get through grade school first for gods sake)...but I do love helping out with a wedding. Etsy does this whole "handmade wedding" thing and it got me reminiscing about the fact that almost all the weddings I have been involved in were "handmade" to some degree. I wrote and printed my own wedding invitations, made my own bubble bottles and let mother nature decorate with bouganvillas...for another friends wedding we made the pew bows...for another friends we stuffed the almonds in little lacy things...but my favorite was my friend Tammra who got married at a contemporary hotel in San Diego. She didn't want fussy centerpieces so we went with square vases with rocks and a few orchids. It was so gorgeous and expensive looking but it was pretty cheap! I love the ingenuity of handmade weddings but if you are not a crafty person (or don't have one like me who jumps at the chance!) then why not shop etsy to get that handmade uniqueness? Here are just a few things I adore...

Summer Line Sneak Peek

Whew! Been a long time since I blogged! Guess I haven't had much to report- just plugging along here in the SoCal sun. Thought I'd do a quick blog pimpin' my new summer line- especially now that I am getting the kids rounded up and ready for a trip down to South Orange County for some Mission viewing and beach combing. Enjoy!

Snagged a Treasury West yay!

I finally had the time to sit down and stalk the treasury on etsy. I almost missed it though so it was meant to be! The colors are oddly similar to the ones in my last post. Must be in that kind of mood. Probably because I don't have any beads that are that color right now so it's be an excuse to shop!
Here's the treasury (click to see- link will expire after a few days though)...